tanker does not impact the orbiter payload bay or the orbiter and can be used any time inflight after launch. An ACC based tanker and cryogenic scavenging operation can supply 2.3 million pounds of fuel (92X of the requirement) at a cost of $350/lb over a ten year period (69). If the required cryogenics are brought into orbit by STS tanker, the projected cost runs about $2,000/lb (69). Over ten years the program savings due to this ET application alone will be on the order of $3.5 billion primarily due to launch costs. Cryogenic scavenging also enhances the space station program. Every shuttle visit to the vicinity of the station can deliver an average of 15,000 pounds of cryogenics at almost no cost per mission. This is clearly an important advantage to an operation limited by congressional funding. II. Reaction Mass Support requirements have been extensively studied for future space based operations. One of the results from these studies has been the identification of a requirement for large quantities of reaction mass for orbital operations (19, 56). This reaction mass is used for such things as orbital maintenance of large space platforms (prevention of orbital decay due to drag), fuel for an OTV operation, fuel for satellite launch and recovery, fuel for future large manned space expenditions, and fuel for emergency requirements (56). Typically, the studies focus on some sort of liquid fuel either supplied by an orbiter based tanker, scavenged from the ET itself, or the orbiter OMS system in orbit. The reaction mass applications to follow suggest reaction mass applications based on using the mass of the tank itself as the reaction mass applications based on using the mass of the tank itself as the reaction mass. The mass of the tank on-orbit of about 69,000 pounds, can by itself fill all refueling requirements proposed with no additional shuttle visits. Once again, the program savings are primarily in launch costs for the 69,000 pounds already in orbit. A. Aluminium Fuelled Rocket The first proposal is to powder the aluminium of the tank structure and use it as fuel in an Hydrogen/Oxygen/Aluminium based rocket engine (18, 19). As mentioned before, each ET delivered to LEO will also deliver an average of 15,000 lbs of residual cryogenics and over 53,000 lbs of aluminium. Performance studies of advanced propulsion engines have indicated that an
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